Vampire Race (Updated: Vampire, Half-Vampire and Feats)

This is my first attempt at something homemade for 4e, a player race and hybrid race based around Vampires. In my world they are an actual race, not something anyone can become. I decided not to address any of the weaknesses or blood lust, sort of leaving that to roleplaying.

Any feedback on the crunch would be greatly appreciated.

UPDATED 8/30/08: Vampire, Dunpiel (Half-Vampire) and Related Feats

Vampire

Average Height: 5'5 - 6'2
Average Weight: 140 - 220lb.

Ability Adjustment: +2 Dex, +2 Cha

Size: Medium
Speed: 6
Vision: Darkvision

Languages: Common, Infernal

Skill Modifiers: +2 Intimidate, +2 Stealth

Bloodhunt: You gain a +1 bonus to attacks against bloodied creatures.

Graveborn: You have resist Necrotic 5 + 1/2 your level, and vulnerability 5 Radiant.

Shadowy Origin: Your ancestors came from the shadow plane of Cadavera, thus you are considered a shadow creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.

Child of Night: Once per encounter, you can use either blood drain or overwhelming gaze:

Blood Drain (Vampire Racial Power)
You sink your fangs into an defenseless victim, draining away their life to sustain your own.
Encounter
Standard Action
Target: One Living Natural or Fey Creature
Requirement: Target must be immobile or helpless
Attack: Str, Dex or Con +2 vs. Reflex
Hit: You heal 1d6+Con and inflict that much damage on the target.
Increase the bonus to +4 and the damage to 2d6 at 11th level, and +6 and 3d6 at 21st.
Special: When you create your character, choose Strength, Dexterity or Constitution as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character's life.

or

Overwhelming Gaze (Vampire Racial Power)
Your wide-eyed, piercing gaze floods a victim's mind with your darkest thoughts.
Encounter (Gaze): Charm, Psychic, Fear
Standard Action
Range 5
Target: One Creature
Attack: Int, Wis or Cha +2 vs. Will
Hit: Target is dazed (save ends)
Sustain Minor: You sustain the power's effect.
Increase the bonus to +4 at 11th level and +6 at 21st.
Special: When you create your character, choose Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character's life.

AND

Dunpiel

Average Height: 5'5 - 6'2
Average Weight: 140 - 220lb.

Ability Adjustment: +2 Con and +2 Cha

Size: Medium
Speed: 6
Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common, Infernal

Skill Adjustments: +2 Endurance, +2 Intimidate

Dual Heritage: You can take feats that have either vampire or human as a prerequisite (or dunpiel-specific feats), granted you meet any other requirements.

Gravekin: Your vampiric ancestry affords you a +1 bonus to Fortitude defense and +2 bonus to savings throws against necrotic effects.

Child of Twilight: You may choose either blood drain or overwhelming gaze as a racial encounter power. The choice remains throughout your character's life.

Blood Drain (Vampire Racial Power)
You sink your fangs into an immobile victim, draining away their life to sustain your own.
Encounter
Standard Action
Target: One Living Natural or Fey Creature
Requirement: Target must be immobile or helpless
Attack: Str, Dex or Con +2 vs. Reflex
Hit: You heal 1d6+Con and inflict that much damage on the target.
Increase the bonus to +4 and the damage to 2d6 at 11th level, and +6 and 3d6 at 21st.
Special: When you create your character, choose Strength, Dexterity or Constitution as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character's life.

or

Overwhelming Gaze (Vampire Racial Power)
Your wide-eyed, piercing gaze floods a victim's mind with your darkest thoughts.
Encounter (Gaze): Charm, Psychic, Fear
Standard Action
Range 5
Target: One Creature
Attack: Int, Wis or Cha +2 vs. Will
Hit: Target is dazed (save ends)
Sustain Minor: You sustain the power's effect.
Increase the bonus to +4 at 11th level and +6 at 21st.
Special: When you create your character, choose Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character's life.



Feats

Besides the general feats in the PHB, vampires also qualify for these feats even if they don't meet the prerequisites: Hellfire Blood and Light Step.

In addition, vampires and dunpiel also have access to several custom heroic feats.

Elemental Drain
Prerequisites: Vampire, blood drain racial power
Benefit: You can use your blood drain on elemental creatures.

Immortal Drain
Prerequisites: Vampire, blood drain racial power
Benefit: You can use your blood drain on immortal creatures.

Aberrant Drain
Prerequisites: Vampire, blood drain racial power
Benefit: You can use your blood drain on aberrant creatures.

Shadow Drain
Prerequisites: Vampire, blood drain racial power
Benefit: You can use your blood drain on shadow creatures, including other vampires.

Undeath Drain
Prerequisites: Vampire, blood drain racial power
Benefit: You can use your blood drain on undead creatures.

Slowing Gaze
Prerequisites: Vampire, overwhelming gaze racial power
Benefit: You can choose for a successful overwhelming gaze attack to slow a target instead.

Nightmare Gaze
Prerequisites: Vampire, overwhelming gaze racial power
Benefit: Every round your gaze is successfully sustained, it deals 1d6 psychic damage to the target.

Psychic Waltz
Prerequisites: Vampire, overwhelming gaze racial power
Benefit: When you successfully hit with overwhelming gaze, you can push the target 1 square in addition to keeping him dazed. Every round the target remains under your control, you can push him 1 square.

Lich-Loved
Prerequisite: Vampire
Special: Necrophilia on a regular basis
Benefit: Mindless undead regard you as one of their own, ignoring you unless provoked. Provocation includes the undead being attacked while you are in their threat range or you attacking the undead.

Graveborn
Prerequisite: Dunpiel, gravekin racial trait
Benefit: You replace your gravekin racial trait with a vampire's graveborn.

Night Stalker's Sight
Prerequisite: Dunpiel, low-light vision
Benefit: You now have darkvision.

Muse-of-All-Trades
Prerequisite: Hybrid Race
Benefit: Choose one skill you are trained in or racially adjusted towards. You grant all allies within 5 squares of you a +1 bonus to that skill. This skill choice can be switched after a short or extended rest while in combat or a strenuous situation, or at will otherwise.

Jack-of-All-Trades
Prerequisite: Hybrid Race
Benefit: Choose one skill you have seen performed since your last extended rest. You gain a +2 bonus to that skill until your next extended rest, even if it's untrained.

I'd probably kick the speed up to 7 because I've always envisioned Vampires as extremely fast and strong (In regards to your attribute ups, however we can't have 3 abilities upped )

Also, I believe Overwhelming gaze should be until the end of your next turn instead of save ends since it's just a racial power.

ok

I'm not finding it.

WHAT DOES THAT "PEACH" MEANS ?

I guess it's an acronym, not a fruit... But what ?

lol Honestly I have no idea what PEACH means, but I imagined it was something like Please Evaluate And Comment Happily.

Thanks for the feedback Kraken. A slight adjustment on the Overwhelming Gaze sounds fair. What do you think of the Blood Drain? Is it too weak? Too strong? Do I need to address any sort of pseudo-grapple as an Aftereffect? I tried to keep it clean and simple.

It's "Critique Honestly", and the first place I saw it was on the WotC boards.

As for Blood drain, I'd probably clarify it to "you spend a healing surge, gaining the hp and dealing the same amount of damage to the target". Something doesn't feel quite right about allowing it on all creatures, but limiting it to 'living' targets doesn't seem right, either.

EDIT: Maybe instead of "must have CA" I'd make the Target: "a creature you've grabbed". Increasing the attack bonus a la the dragonborn's breath would be a good idea, too.

I'd probably give it more qualities. Perhaps the Shadow type, like eladrin get the Fey type. I'm tempted to suggest Resist Necrotic 5 or Vulnerable Radiant 5, or both.

Dealing a healing surge amount actually seems like a lot of damage, it's likely 6 damage (better than 1d10 on average) at level 1 and perhaps 17 damage (better than 4d8) by level 10. It only gets more out of proportion at high levels. Also, it seems rather odd to me to have the attack be based on a mental score.

I'd suggest two changes: make it do dice-based damage (something like 1d6 at heroic, 2d6 paragon, 3d6 epic, I think the damage should not be high since the power also heals you), and let the player choose one physical stat for Blood Drain and one mental stat for Overwhelming Gaze. That way not all vampires are automatically good at both.

Also, having the attack bonuses scale with level as others have recommended seems like a good idea.

The powers strike me as pretty powerful, but I'm not sure that they're way out of line with some of the nicer racial powers in the PH, and as you've written it the Vampire's not really getting any other special benefits (other than darkvision), and they presumably (at least from roleplay) have significant weaknesses.

Vampire


Average Height: 5'5 – 6'0
Average Weight: 140 – 200lb.

Ability Adjustment: +2 Dex, +2 Cha

Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Darkvision

Languages: Common, Nightspeech

Skill Modifiers: +2 Intimidate, +2 Stealth

Bloodhunt: You get a +1 racial bonus on attacks against bloodied foes.

Graveborn: You have resist Necrotic 5+1/2 your level, and vulnerability Radiant 5.

Shadowy Origin: Your ancestors were native to the Shadowfell, so you're considered a shadow creature for the purpose of effects that relate to creature origin.

Child of the Night: Once per encounter, you can use either Blood Drain or Overwhelming Gaze.

Blood Drain Vampire Racial Power
You sink your teeth into a victim and draw precious vitae, at once healing yourself and harming the poor soul in your clutches.
Encounter
Standard Action
Target: One Creature
Attack: Requires target to be immobile. Str, Dex or Con +2 vs. Reflex

You heal 1d6+Con and deal the same amount of damage.

Increase to +4 bonus and 2d6 at 11th level, and +6 bonus and 3d6 at 21st level.

Special: When you create your character, choose Strength, Dexterity or Constitution as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character's life.



or



Overwhelming Gaze Vampire Racial Power
With a penetrating stare, your darkest thoughts consume a victim's mind.
Encounter – Gaze- Charm, Psychic, Fear
Standard Action Range 5
Target: One Creature
Attack: Int, Wis or Cha +2 vs. Will

Target is dazed (save ends).

Increase to +4 bonus at 11th level and +6 bonus at 21st level.

Special: When you create your character, choose Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma as the ability score you use when making attack rolls with this power. This choice remains throughout your character's life.


Followed the advise thus far, making perhaps too bold of changes in addition.

I added Bloodhunt from the Tiefling. It just seemed my Vampire was missing that additional small boost other races had after the skill modifier, and Bloodhunt seems to fit like a snug, black lacy glove.

I also followed it with Shadowy Origin, which I thought helped the race's ability to fit in other games by using that common cosmology. And I just thought it was cool hehe.

Added Graveborn, a Necrotic resistance, though feeling it had to be balanced, as mentioned, with that Radiant vulnerability.

Comparing this revised Blood Drain to Vampiric Embrace (warlock level 1 encounter power) , I think its a fair trade, balanced by the stipulation the target must be immobile, which can be gained through a successfully maintained grab, but also with unconscious or sleeping victims in keeping with flavor. It also does less damage than the encounter power. Let me know if you think it fair.

For Overwhelming Gaze, I scaled it like Dragonbreath, had them designate a mental stat.

Can't wait to hear the feedback and thank you all for the help.

Stogoe said:

As for Blood drain, I'd probably clarify it to "you spend a healing surge, gaining the hp and dealing the same amount of damage to the target". Something doesn't feel quite right about allowing it on all creatures, but limiting it to 'living' targets doesn't seem right, either.
.

Click to expand...

I guess sucking the blood of a zombie or a gelatinous cube is silly, but limiting it to living humanoids makes it far less powerful ?

If I had to design the power, I think I would chose "living humanoid of natural, astral and fey origin". I don't think you should be able to find sustenance in animate creature, gelatinous cube, shadow creatures, elemental or undead.
However, you can designate feats to improve the scope of this diet and/or the benefit of the power.

Yeah I agree, blood drain just doesn't fit with bloodless creatures. I think it's still viable with the further limit of "Living Natural, Astral or Fey creature."

And that would make a great series of feats to expand that power. Good call.

I also totally forgot about the sustain clause of the Overwhelming Gaze, what I'm thinking is a minor action and line of sight. That second requirement I think helps balance the "save ends" portion, as it's possible for someone besides the victim to physically block the gaze, in which case I'll have to add something about interrupting the line of sight allows the target an immediate additional save to end. Or is that getting too complicated?

Wow, I like this a lot. Great work!

Suggestions:

1. On Overwhelming Gaze, I would add "Sustain Minor" but I think the general Sustain rules already include stuff about range and line of effect, so I would not put any special rules for that.

2. I agree with limiting the Blood Drain to just those living creatures.

3. Vampires always have trouble with sunlight. I think it'd be fun to include this somehow. It would have to be something fairly harmless, otherwise it would disrupt the game and annoy the other players. For example:

Sunlight Allergy: You can't spend healing surges when you are in direct sunlight. Even moderate shade, such as from trees, overcast weather, or dark protective clothing, can negate this penalty.

(Thus, as long as the vampire wears a hoodie, he can travel overland with the rest of the party. But he'll probably avoid trips to the beach.)

-- 77IM